The “visionary” director who brought Kiefer Sutherland back from the brink: “I wasn’t the hottest ticket”
Although Kiefer Sutherland became one of the biggest stars on television when 24 debuted in 2001, thus changing the medium altogether, it was considered to be a comeback role after a decade of disappointments.
While he had been seen as a promising actor in the late ‘80s with Stand by Me and The Lost Boys, his career had been in an increasingly precarious position. While being left at the altar by Julia Roberts became an embarrassing moment that generated some sympathy, he also accepted a number of roles that didn’t do him any good. Even his effective performances in films like A Time To Kill and Freeway had him playing completely unlikable characters, which seemingly indicated to producers that he was no longer a viable leading man.
Although science fiction was a genre that was beginning to get more respect in the ‘90s, due to the success of films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Total Recall, it was still a risk for actors to turn themselves over to directors with very exacting visions. However, Sutherland said that it was a role in a 1998 cult sci-fi classic that helped save his career.
“Dark City, which was directed by Alex Proyas, was one of my most favourite experiences that I’ve ever had, as a person and as an actor,” he said, “Alex Proyas is a real visionary. He wrote the cartoon version of Dark City when he was 15 years old. I did that movie at a time when maybe I wasn’t the hottest ticket on the street.”
Although Proyas had treated him with respect, the actor said that he had sought the Dark City role out of desperation.
“My career was in a questionable state, at best,” Sutherland said, ”I met with him in a hotel, and I remember acting out the part for him in the lobby. He just wanted to have a drink with me, but I wasn’t going to let it go. I was walking out of there with that job, because I really, really wanted it. All I wanted to do in creating the voice was a stutter of someone who is so scared.”
While auditioning to play a character during what was supposed to be a routine meeting was an unusual choice, it helped Sutherland get on Proyas’ good side.
“Trying to convey that in a hotel bar is maybe not the easiest thing to do, or maybe the brightest call, but I think what he got from it was that I’d do anything,” he added, “I loved that character. One of the worst hairstyles of all time, and I wore that hairstyle for four months with pride for the right to do that part.”
Dark City revitalised the neo-noir cyberpunk subgenre a full year before The Matrix, was highly influential on the leather-bound action style that took off within the next decade, and was instantly hailed by sci-fi buffs as a cult classic in the making, even earning a glowing review from Roger Ebert when he said that it was the best movie of 1998. On the other hand, the fact that Sutherland took a supporting role in the film in a character part signified that he was willing to take acting seriously again, which helped spark his revival.
